Raven laughs today

469 years ago today Anne Boleyn was executed.*

Who cares? What makes it important?

Tis one of the greatest stitch-ups of all time. Accused of being an adulteress with 4? 5? 6? lovers (she who had withheld her body from the most powerful man in the land for years) a witch and many other things, this unpopular woman was utterly framed by the man she once trusted - a man who was an adulterer - and by the sycophants around him, some of whom had hated her, some of whom had been her earlier admirers, all of whom were used to eating out of Henry's colon. Bear in mind that he could have divorced her, he could have done a dozen things - but there was that business of ego. He had gone through so much to get her, and now he didn't want her. Best she look like a demon, or he might look ridiculous.

Down the years since, the ghost of Anne Boleyn is one of the most famous and oft-reported, seen in a coach, seen walking headless, seen - but only in gentle Hever Castle in Kent - as a little girl with long dark hair, playing in the gardens.

Henry won that time; He got his new wife and his little prince; justice was to come later, when the tables were turned on him. Catherine Howard, his rosa san spina was the real thing when it came to adultery - with 4? 5? 6? lovers. They say he cried, this old man, all those lies and deaths later, he blubbered like a baby as they told him. When she tried to reach him, he turned away; he could not face the girl he was killing. Poor Catherine, poor Anne. And Henry?

He discovered that Nemesis has a sense of humour.

Here's to kinder times, and being cool to each other. Rest In Peace, Anne.

*Thank you tudorengland